Important Documents in American Government
This system divides power between the national government and state governments, which means there are now two levels of government that can tell you what to do and tax you.
Federalism
This is an organization that tries to elect its members to public office so that its views can become public policy...
What is a political party?
This plan of government was created after the Articles of Confederation failed.
What is The U.S. Constitution?
This legal doctrine says courts should follow previously decided cases when ruling on similar issues. It keeps the law predictable and stable, except when the Supreme Court decides it doesn't anymore.
Precedent (stare decisis)
Guilty or Not Guilty? You can decide if you are called upon for this civic responsibility.
Serve on a Jury (Jury Duty)
Rather than electing the president directly, Americans vote for members of this body, which officially casts votes for president based on each state's popular vote results.
Electoral College
A senator can use this procedural tactic to talk for as long as they want on the Senate floor to delay or kill a vote. The record is over twenty-four hours. The topic was civil rights legislation.
Filibuster
The president's power to issue these directives carries the force of law without requiring Congressional approval, though they can be overturned by Congress or the courts
Executive orders
An electoral system where whoever gets the most votes wins the election.
What is a winner-take-all system/ First Past the post?
This pre-Constitution governing document, ratified in 1781, created a weak central government with no executive branch and no power to tax, and was ultimately replaced because of those weaknesses.
The Articles of Confederation
The Tenth Amendment reserves powers not delegated to the federal government to the states or the people. These powers are commonly referred to by this term.
Reserved powers
The government can tell you a lot of things, but it cannot tell you what to believe, what to say, or who to pray to. These protected freedoms have this name.
Civil liberties
The process whereby the major political parties form new support coalitions that endure for a long period.
What is party realignment?
Part of a series of essays. This was written primarily by James Madison, and argued for ratification of the Constitution and argued that the dangers of factions could decimate a republic....
Federalist No. 10 (Federalist Papers)
This doctrine, established in Marbury v. Madison, gives the Supreme Court the power to strike down laws that violate the Constitution.
judicial review
This amendment, ratified in 1868, granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States and is the constitutional basis for birthright citizenship.
Fourteenth Amendment
This practice is named after Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Gerry, whose 1812 district was shaped so strangely that a newspaper compared it to a salamander. The name stuck. So did the practice.
Gerrymandering